Most older aircraft brake systems utilize direct cable or hydraulic brake actuation architectures. Such cable and hydraulic control systems may suffer from weight, performance, or reliability issues. Many of these issues have been improved upon by using electrically actuated and controlled aircraft brake systems. Electrically actuated and controlled brake systems are colloquially referred to as “brake by wire” systems. Like their hydraulic counterparts, electric brake systems for aircraft may include a parking brake feature that can be activated to prevent aircraft from rolling when parked. A parking brake mechanism in an aircraft electric brake system may be electrically controlled and commanded in a manner that is integrated with the primary command/control logic of the electric brake system.
Older aircraft may utilize a brake status indicator light system that is mounted on or near the nose gear of the aircraft; this brake status indicator light system is intended to provide a simple indication of the current aircraft brake status to members of the ground crew. Typically, the brake status indicator light system will let the ground crew know whether the parking brakes of the aircraft are set and/or whether the aircraft is ready for towing (i.e., the parking brakes and wheel brakes are released and the wheels are free to rotate). An electric brake system may also cooperate with an equivalent brake status indicator light system. Accordingly, it is desirable to control the brake status indicator light system in an electric brake system in a manner that is easy for ground crew members to learn and is intuitive in view of the familiar protocols used in connection with traditional hydraulic brake systems.
Brake status indicator light systems for legacy hydraulic-based aircraft brake systems rely on data that merely infers the current brake status. For example, such legacy systems may process brake pedal deflection data, with the assumption that a deflected brake pedal will result in brake actuation. In addition, such legacy systems may process hydraulic pressure sensor data that is obtained “upstream” from the hydraulic brake actuators. Unfortunately, this upstream hydraulic pressure data may not always accurately reflect the true hydraulic pressure realized at the brake actuators.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a reliable brake status indicator light system suitable for use with an electric brake system of an aircraft. In addition, it is desirable to drive such a brake status indicator light system using data that more accurately and reliably represents the actual brake actuation status. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.